CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.

"It is worth noting, at least parenthetically, that what drives Oedipus to punish himself and to leave Thebes is not that he has broken the city's laws (Laios' murder took place outside Theban territory) but that he has infringed unwritten laws."—A Companion to Sophocles (2012)

This collaborative work proves that self-published books can really, truly succeed. The Jinx Companion, a fun and informative study guide of sorts, was compiled by three writers—Craig Conley, Gordon Meyer, and Fredrick Turner—over the course of a yearlong study of Annemann's Jinx magazine.

Arguably one of the most important periodicals in the history of conjuring, and the source of much inspiration and the fodder for many other books, it's a wonder that no one considered planning a guided tour of The Jinx before.

Thankfully, this triumvirate knows how to lead an expedition, and has done so with great style and a sense of fun, which permeates each page of the publication. The trio culled important or fascinating references, mapped out paths to forgotten miracles, and brought back other tantalizing tidbits from obscurity (or the depths of memory, at least). Incorporated throughout are the cut-and-paste graphics that made Annemann's original so intriguing and visually interesting in the first place. All those factors make this a trip worth taking.

... Ultimately ... the treatise is a keeper. It reawakened my interest in past bits that I'd forgotten about, and it opened my eyes to things I'd never really noticed in Annemann's work. And that's the general idea, so the authors have clearly scored a hit.

I was waiting to cross an intersection, behind a couple of pedestrians. We waited and waited, yet the contrarian crosswalk signal kept playing a game of chicken with us. Law-abiding citizens, we remained standing at the curb, even though the traffic on either side was similarly frozen with red lights. The pedestrians in front of me pressed the crosswalk button repeatedly, to no avail. As the seconds marched on, we all began to feel silly just standing there. It was technically safe to cross, and we could feel deference to authority giving over to a craving for self-determination.

As simple as their signals may be on the surface, traffic lights are so inscrutable. How intelligent and authoritative are they really? They might be hooked up to high-tech sensors and networks (some are, surely), but then again any one traffic light might be decades behind the times. We know that some traffic lights are so smart and witty that they have their own Twitter accounts. (A light on Michigan Avenue in Chicago tweets such wisecracks as, "I don't believe in false starts," "I hear your prayers, and I answer either 'yes' or 'wait,'" "They say we're all connected," "We have to stop meeting like this," and "From my vantage point, you've already involved the cops." No kidding: https://twitter.com/#!/ChiTrafficLight). We're left wondering if a non-responsive light is broken ("on the blink," as it were), or if we're being challenged by unknown forces to throw caution to the wind.

As if of one mind, the pedestrians in front of me and I finally had enough of this Kafkaesque stalemate. We stepped forward and boldly crossed that street in defiance of the laws of man and God. And as our feet came down on that first step, the crosswalk signal glowed "WALK." And the pedestrians in front of me burst out laughing. They laughed, and they laughed, and they laughed as they completed their crossing. And still they laughed. "The light was red!" the man cackled. "Then it turned green!" the woman cackled back. When she'd finally caught her breath, the woman made a phone call to share what apparently had been the funniest experience of their lives. "We were standing there," she explained, "and then we started walking ... and the light changed!" But she couldn't explain further, as once again she was overcome with tearful hilarity.

There's a Zen koan in there somewhere: "What's the humor of one light changing?" The pedestrians howled on, and their laughter was contagious. I walked on home, chuckling to myself, with a definite spring in my step. I'd crossed paths with folks who don't want to have fun but who embrace life's subtlest perversities with gusto.

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

An illustration from an 1878 issue of Harper's magazine. The caption reads: "The beginning of trouble."

Dedicated to Teresa Burritt.

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

Read six books today from our collection of the shortest novels ever written. (We've illustrated them in your honor.)

Snakes in Irelandby Margaret Deland

There are no snakes in Ireland.

The Dinosaurby Augusto Monterroso

When he awoke, the dinosaur was still there.

Englewood Entropyby Anonymous

Dr. Blanton Tufford, a Stanford University physics professor who studied the structure of the universe, was killed on Sunday when a car crashed into the Englewood, N.J., coffee shop where he was sitting.

Untitledattributed to Ernest Hemingway

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Untitledby Alfred Charles Richard

Coughfing [sic], coffin!

Knockby Fredric Brown

The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door.

Also:

An unusual love story emerges from two entries in Kent County, Maryland Marriage License records. On April 22, 1797, both Jogn Lewin and Robert Curry took out licenses to marry Jane Bird. A note by the clerk on the page on which the records were made, just under Curry's name, says, "Curry was successful." Here is a whole two-volume romance condensed in two names and dates, and a sentence of three words. Probably the shortest novel ever written. (source: Pioneer Pathfinder, 1985)

"By the way of parenthesis, let me add: If you will try to realize that the inhabitants of the spheres above you are only human beings shorn of their earthly bodies, you can comprehend all I am going to tell you."—Jabez Hunt Nixon,Beyond the Veil

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

An illustration of a profile cliff from an 1899 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

"The only certainty I have is that perseverance in the habit of writing is usually in direct relation to its absurdity, while we usually do brilliant things quite spontaneously."—Enrique Vila-Matas, Never Any End to Paris

Staring into the depths: an illustration from a 1910 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "For a long while he stood before the unfinished canvas, searching in it for any hint of that elusive and mysterious something, and found none."

When the treasured Enrique Vila-Matas says that "Occasionally my sense of irony reaches Paris itself" (within the delightful Never Any End to Paris), we might add that it's a longer journey than one might think, when one factors in the meanderings of the Seine.

Speaking of irony, we love this Vila-Matas original: "Irony is the highest form of sincerity."

An illustration from an 1878 issue of Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly magazine. The caption reads: "In love with an automaton. — Through the stifling cloud of bituminous smoke, he scarcely perceived what manner of being it was. He caught it up in his arms, and bore it through the passage, and down the stairs."

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

An illustration from a 1904 issue of Pall Mall magazine. The caption reads: "Don't spring so—I am not a ghost yet."

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

This past March, my daughter and I watched as my wife had her Tarot cards read. We'd never done this...or seen it. The reader arranged the cards in a complex spread. Each card he took to represent a moment in the future, an upcoming month. There was one card...I can't actually remember what it was but it could have indicated death...that he took to represent a change (as in, the death of one thing and the beginning of the other.) My daughter asked him, if the card actually had indicated death, then the rest of the cards would have represented months in my wife's afterlife. He didn't really know what to say. But I love this idea...this fortunetelling into the afterlife. Why should divination stop with life? I have know idea if he was reading the cards in any kind of conventional manner, but, this, our first experience of a Tarot reading, was entirely mesmerizing and poetic, completely in keeping with my literary experiences of Tarot cards.

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

In a letter to historian and mocker of superstition William Harnett Blanch, the illumined Oscar Wilde wrote, "I love superstitions. They are the colour element of thought and imagination They are the opponents of common sense. Common sense is the enemy of romance. The aim of your society [a club serving 13 courses, with ladders to walk under, mirrors to break, black cats, and so forth] seems to be dreadful. Leave us some unreality" (qtd. in Phil Baker's biography of Austin Osman Spare).

Here's a party crasher from a 1902 issue of The Strand magazine. The caption reads: "Then the nurse followed."

Dedicated to Teresa Burritt.

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

An illustration from an 1883 issue of Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly magazine. The caption reads: "A lovelamp. — She remained motionless as the Sphinx itself, her soul in her eyes, as the little lamp began to throb like a living blossom away from the bane toward the current."

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

An illustration from a 1901 issue of McClure's magazine. The caption reads: "Here's this."

Dedicated to Jonathan.

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

"I've said this many times, and it bears repeating now: there's no one in the spirit world who's even a fraction as evil as the human beings we run across here on earth."—Sylvia Browne's Book of Dreams

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

"Every now and then some people in your audience will try to answer your rhetorical question. If someone offers you an answer, you need to be able to handle the response."—R. Mark Giuliano, Speak Easy (2005)

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

An illustration from a 1916 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "'Perhaps you would like to come to some of the meetings of our Cult of the Occult,' she suggested."

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

An illustration from a 1921 issue of Collier's magazine. The caption reads: "Inwardly in turmoil but outwardly composed, Brinn waited for the next development. It came: a dim light glowed into flame before him, but no sound broke the night's silence. At last a voice spoke from the surrounding shadows."

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]

[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]